We’ve lost seventy-five per cent of the original 192 entered before the first round and connections are starting to dream of more success. The competition is getting tougher and most would probably just accept qualification at this stage. It’s also the first occasion where you will see the future winner on Saturday night. If you can get to the track to witness the live action, do so. It’s one of the best nights to attend prior to the latter stages.
In the preceding round, we had two second round races both with 4 heat winners. There were also three races comprising of no previous winners. However, if you thought that was unlucky, heat seven of round three has five heat winners, and the remaining runner won his first-round race! I once mentioned the option of equal distribution of winners in the following rounds. This would of course make the draw more complicated. You could write a computer program to deal with the different variables (seeding as well as guarding in some cases), but I don’t imagine pressing a button would create the same excitement of a live draw.
I relish this third-round stage. All 48 remaining greyhounds are now assessed and rated collectively. It’s time-consuming as I have no Excel/VBA application software to use where it involves a combination of two or more interrelated races. It’s challenging like Sudoku but much more satisfying. The exceptional performance of Crafty Chivoo in the last round (one spot off the track record) has resulted in the divergence between the ratings becoming exaggerated. I’ve produced a summary table as well as the individual race ratings with the current top six highlighted.
Saturday Race no. 3
Saturday Race no. 4
Saturday Race no. 5
Saturday Race no. 6
Saturday Race no. 7
Saturday Race no. 8
Saturday Race no. 9
Saturday Race no. 10
